The UCONN Opportunity Fund Project

The UCONN Opportunity Fund Project was initiated to broaden and deepen the access our students have to hands-on experiential learning around investing. Its genesis was when Steve Wilson joined the faculty of the business school at UCONN as the Director of the Investment Management Initiative within the finance department. When asked about this project, Steve said, "I have taken on this role after 43 years of managing institutional equities for a long array of leading organizations both here in the US and In Europe. My mission is two-fold, to serve as a bridge for the students between the textbook and Wall Street and to increase access for students earlier in their academic careers to the powerful experiential learning experience of managing real money in the stock market. To that end, I created The Opportunity Fund Project." This program is a monumental advancement for the school, creating a younger and more diverse cohort to train as investors, as it is open to all students. The program begins with the Building Blocks Investment Analysis and Research course which teaches the cornerstone concepts of accounting, economics, finance, and capital markets. This prepares our students to tackle their next challenge, working in a team environment to manage a sliver of the university endowment as part of the Applied Investment Analysis course. Together, these classes form the program that prepares our students to understand what it takes to become investment managers, venture capitalists, consultants, commercial bankers, private equity investors, and investment bankers. If you are truly serious about gaining knowledge and hands-on experience in the field of investing, you owe it to yourself to look into this program. If you have any questions or are interested in applying, reach out to Steve Wilson at steven.m.wilson@uconn.edu